Polish grammar cases

The purpose of this section is to understand what a case is and when to use which of the seven Polish cases. A case is the context the noun is used in the sentence. The context of the noun in the sentence will determine which case category it is classified to. To understand these Polish case classifications is the most difficult part of Polish grammar, so do your best.

Polish, like Latin or Russian, has cases. Cases have many functions, but they mostly allow the speaker to convey ideas with fewer words, as the endings on the words tell the listener what the sentence is about. Some people argue Polish cases really replace or reiterate English prepositions. But there is more to it, as you will see. Which case to use is really based on the context of the sentence.

What are the most important cases? The most common Polish cases are nominative (dictionary form) and accusative, which account for almost 65% of the Polish cases. The nominative, accusative, genitive, and locative account for over 90% of the Polish cases!

Does English have cases? Yes. English used to be rich with cases before the Norman invasion in 1066 A.D, now it has only remnants.

Let’s look at two examples of English pronoun cases, I and she. “I own this house”, “This is MY house”, “This house is MINE”, “This house belongs to ME”. This is the same word but in different ways. The form changes with the case it is used in. More: “SHE is the one I love”, “I am in love with HER”.

Although not a true case another English example is the use of ‘s to show possession. “This is Mark’s house.” The Polish case is similar: Ten jest dom Marka. The noun ending of ‘Mark’ changes in both languages.

Polish grammar cases in detail

Nominative

Subject of the sentence. Answers the questions: What is it? Who is it? It is a Park. What is it? A park. It is Mark. Who is it? Mark. The park is green. What is green? The park. The man is walking. Who is walking? the man.

Usually used with the verb “to be”.

Genitive

The genitive case has five uses:

Indicated possession, replaces the English word for ‘of’, answers the question: Whose is it? Of what is it? Mark’s house (or the house of Mark). The cat’s tail.

When the negative ‘nie’ (not) is used in what would normally be the accusative case. Answers the question: What is not here? I do not have a bike.

Used after the prepositions od( from, since) do (to, into) dla (for), kolo (near, by) z/ze (out of, from). I am going to Krakow . I have been happy since my birthday.

Used to express quantity, There are many boxes, There are only a few eggs.

Dative

Generally related to the English preposition “to”, that is doing something “to”.

Answers the question: to what? To who? I am giving the book to Marta I am lending Marta the book. Used with verbs like Dawać-give to Pomagać-help to Pozyczać-lend to.

Accusative

The direct object of most verbs; the object of some prepositions.

Answers the questions: What is the action is about? Whom the action is about? I see the tree. I see what? The tree. I see Mark. I see who? Mark. We would like to visit Krakow. What would you like to visit? Krakow. I have a new dress. What do you have? A new dress.

Most common verbs used: I see, I have, I like.

Other examples: I am going to buy a plane ticket. I am going to buy what? A plane ticket. I am going to sell my car. I am going to sell what? My car.

The accusative also follows preposition that indicate going towards or motion. Przez-through Na-on, to, towards, for I am going to the market. I am waiting for my love. I will be on vacation. I am walking through the building.

Instrumental

Generally related to the English preposition ‘with’ or ‘by’ when referring to transportation.

Answers the questions-whom am I doing something with? With what am I doing something with? I am talking on the phone with Joseph. I am traveling by train. This is also a case of location, most commonly used with “Z” or with.” also Przed-in front of Nad-above Pod-under, bellow Za- behind.

Locative

Case of location.

Answers the questions: who I am talking about? What is it on?

Used with some prepositions, often showing location. On, about, this is the case of location.” Na-on W-in Przy-by, at Po-after o-about On the plane, On the street, In the building ,We are talking about the movie star.

Vocative

Answers the questions who or what are you calling – rarely used do not learn it.

Thanks for this summary, I just started learning Polish and had no concept of what on earth ‘cases’ were! This really helps. One small suggestion is that maybe you could put the common endings for cases as you did for masculine/feminine/neuter nouns, this would help people link the ideas here with the endings they’ve already encountered (of course if they’re not very regular then please ignore this suggestion).
Thanks again!

This explanation of Polish cases is great.
My wife (of 3 years) is Polish and though we live in Australia we return to Europe each July and i really want to get the basics of the language.
My wife is a native speaker but unfortunately she does not know anything about case either!
Thanks
Phil.

These are Polish cases with some examples, words used: a child (neuter in Polish), an apple (neuter in Polish), a TV (masculine in Polish), a pencil-case (masculine in Polish), a pillow (feminine in Polish), a cup (feminine in Polish)

I think that there is a strong need to learn straight Polish questions of every case. So above post is very usefull. Of course it must be translated by the beginner to get to know what it really means and observe it, but it straight should be used and practised in Polish to decline nouns further.
I’m Polish native speaker experienced in teaching Polish as the foreign language so I can help in it, if anyone needs.

In my town of Krakow there is actually a George Washington street. I have some pictures and even it appears in writing. One of these days I should post it and you can see how George Washington’s name changes on signs and notices.

Yes, declination of names and surnames in Polish is not really easy for foreigners. Always it is quite problematic for me to explain what and why it happens this way and not other, but I never give up!

It’s really a good site to learn from but I have some suggestions if you allow me , it would be better if you can put examples for the cases in polish language not only in english, so that the person can know how the word changes with each case. I think it will be good if you put 3 or 4 examples for each case , masculine, feminine and neuter,single or plural

These cases has been explained very well and has given me a much better understanding as to their relevance (I have been doing quite a bit of searching for information on these cases). I am currently taking Polish classes and I can’t imagine how difficult these polish cases must be to teach to English speaking students even for a very good polish teacher like the one I have. It’s hard enough to understand the Polish cases). Now when I use my polish textbook and workbook. I have a much better understanding as to the seven cases and can clearly see their uses in the written exercise book that I use.